Andreas Mogensen, Denmark’s astronaut, expressed his joy at seeing the sun on his birthday while in space .
Mogensen, who was the first Danish astronaut in space in 2015 and current Expedition 70 commander on the International Space Station, shared his orbital birthday celebration on X (formerly Twitter). He explained why solar views have a special significance on birthdays.
According to Mogensen, there is a saying in Denmark that if the sun shines on your birthday, it means you have been good that year. He added, “the sun is always shining in space.” Mogensen’s tweet on Thursday (Nov. 2) included a photo of him at the ISS wraparound Cupola window.
Mogensen expressed his longing for his family but mentioned that he was grateful for the “great crew who celebrated my birthday with me.”
Related: Spectacular purple and gold auroras glow over Denmark (photos)
Mogensen revealed that in Denmark, people celebrate birthdays by flying the national flag, the Dannebrog. He stated that it becomes a birthday flag that symbolizes happiness, celebration, and smiles.
Mogensen also shared a picture of the Dannebrog in the ISS, located between the flags of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. These autonomous regions of Denmark are not part of the European Union.
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The existence of the Dannebrog can be traced back to the 14th century, and legend has it that it fell from heaven during the Battle of Lyndanisse in 1219, near modern Tallinn, Estonia, as stated by Encyclopedia Britannica.
Mogensen’s birthday coincided with a busy week for the ISS. On Tuesday (Nov. 1), NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara, part of the Expedition 70 crew, completed the fourth all-woman spacewalk in history, performing maintenance tasks for 6 hours and 42 minutes. Mogensen is scheduled to conduct his own extravehicular activity later in 2023.
